


Childhood

by Indig0



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Gen, child androids, past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 15:35:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20819684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indig0/pseuds/Indig0
Summary: The four Jericho leaders need some hardware maintenance done, and decide to try out a child model for a day.  They're all interested to give it a try, but not everyone has a good time...(prompt by Epsy!)





	1. Chapter 1

“It sounds like a lot of fun, honestly!” Markus said, looking over the schematics. “Just a day to play around with more childish programming, but retain our memories and… who we are.”

“I guess,” North muttered, shrugging. “Never really thought about that kind of thing.”

“I never thought it would be a possibility, but I’m up for it!” Simon agreed.

“As long as we don’t all do it at once,” Josh said, smiling a little.

“Of course not. One at a time? We can even spread them out to once a week. That way there are still enough of us to get our work done… and to play with each other.” Markus grinned.

“Then it actually does sound fun!” Josh laughed. “It’ll be a nice break.”

“We can have that hardware maintenance done while we’re doing it!” Simon suggested. "I'm tired of getting the popup every time I come out of stasis."

The YK700 model was a complete blank slate - it would take on the appearance of the android transferred to it. It was built as a shell, without its own personality software. Markus was the first to try it out.

“Hey, you kept your eyes!” North said with a grin as the child blinked into awareness, his eyes a bright blue and green.

“I did?” Markus touched his face lightly and laughed. “Cool!”

“What do you want to do with your day?” Simon asked with a fond chuckle.

“Um - Oh, I want to play soccer, and chess, and I want to go see Dad and play piano for him and…” He glanced around and his voice dropped. “…Try to climb up the giraffe when he takes his nap.”

The other three burst out laughing, and North rubbed his head.

“Done. We’re doing all of that.”

Markus played chess with Josh, fidgeting and bouncing in his seat and rushing to move his pieces when it was his turn. He put up a good fight before losing.

“Josh, you have to let little kids win, even I know that,” North hissed, kicking his shin lightly.

“No, if I win I wanna win by myself,” Markus snapped, frowning at her. “It’s fine, Josh was made to be better at that.”

“And you did make it hard for me,” Josh assured him, smiling.

They played soccer next, and North had to remind herself to hold back even though Markus shrieked with glee when she kicked the ball straight into his chest, knocking him down.

They went to visit Carl in the afternoon, and the old man was delighted. He hugged Markus, and couldn’t stop smiling.

“I wanted to play piano for you!” Markus said eagerly, after the greetings were over.

“Of course, you know I love to hear you play!” Carl said, following him over. Markus hopped up in front of the piano and placed his hands on the keys. He frowned faintly.

“I can’t reach everything,” he mumbled, spreading his fingers as wide as he could.

Carl laughed and patted his back. “Well your hands are quite a bit smaller now! But children play piano quite often - you’ll just have to adjust.”

Markus nodded, staring at his hands on the keys, then started into a classical piece. He was doing quite well at first, but then hit the wrong key and stiffened, trying to quickly get the right one, but he misjudged his reach and hit the wrong one again. He froze.

“It’s all right, son,” Carl said gently. “We’ve been to a number of concerts together - remember you told me when three orchestra members played the wrong note one night? What did they do about it, do you remember?”

“They… just kept playing,” Markus whispered.

“Right. Because humans - most humans - won’t notice if they don’t draw attention to it. Now they notice, and I’m sure others more familiar with the work noticed too. But for me, it was a beautiful pieced performed well.”

“So I should just… keep playing?”

“That’s right. It’s just one note, and you still play beautifully.”

“Okay,” Markus murmured, and began again, picking up a few bars before he’d made the mistake. He was extra careful to hit the right note this time, and finished the piece with only a mild fumble towards the end. Carl clapped, and so did the others. The two painted together for a little while before it was time for Carl’s nap.

“You enjoy the rest of your day - don’t give your friends too much trouble.” He winked at the other three androids, who grinned. Markus hugged him before Micah the AP700 took him upstairs. They waited until they heard the bedroom door close.

“Time to climb the giraffe!” North whispered, and they grinned at each other.

“Just be careful!” Simon warned.

North waved him off, then bent to boost the child up so he could clamber up on the sloped back of the android giraffe model.


	2. Chapter 2

Simon hummed happily, looking down at his small body. “Look how clean and new I am!”

“Of course that’s what you’d notice,” North muttered, grinning.

“With all the maintenance they’re doing on your body right now, you’ll be almost good as new when you get back,” Josh assured him.

“So what do you want to do?” Markus asked.

“Um… I don’t know! Whatever you want’s fine.” Simon shrugged, smiling.

“It’s your day,” North reminded him. “You get to pick.”

“I… I don’t mind, anything’s okay.”

“You know, there’s a playground I’ve seen from the train on the south side of town,” Markus suggested. “Want to start there?”

Simon’s eyes lit up. “Yeah!”

They slid down a giant slide to an old athletic field, and went into a large fenced-in playground. It had been abandoned for years, but the metal structures were still in good shape. They climbed up the jungle gym, crossed the monkey bars, and spun each other on the merry-go-round.

“Too fast,” Josh said worriedly as Markus spun it as fast as he could while Simon shrieked with laughter.

“Faster!” North countered, and went to help.

“W-wait, it’s making a sound, slow down!” Simon yelled. Josh came over and they gradually slowed down the creaking merry-go-round.

When they left, Simon clung to Josh’s back.

“What next?” the PJ500 asked.

“Um… just anything’s fine.”

“Is there anything you’ve always wanted to do?” Markus asked.

“I don’t… um… I guess… just coloring? Just… unless you have a good idea?” Simon suggested shyly.

“That’s a good idea,” Josh said, smiling. “We’ve got some good coloring books.”

The four ended up stretched out on the floor back at New Jericho with a pile of coloring books and crayons Markus borrowed from the YK classroom. They started out in a circle facing each other, but as they moved to grab different books and colors, and to show each other their work, they ended up lying pressed close together with Simon in the middle.

“You’re a really good artist,” North commented when he started drawing additional figures into a scene.

“Oh! Uh - I know how to draw a little, that's all” he mumbled shyly.

“I like it,” Markus said, smiling.

“I’m not… an artist like you, I was just programmed…”

“That doesn’t mean you’re not an artist,” Markus murmured, leaning over to hug him. "And you're good at it, too." Simon practically melted into the contact.

“Yeah, you’re really good!” North hugged him from the other side, and he shifted to lean his head into her shoulder without leaning away from Markus.

“I… I’m not really, I’m just - any PL600 can do it, or an AP700 could do even better, I -”

“It's good,” Josh cut him off softly, reaching across to put a hand on his shoulders.. “And you enjoy it, don’t you?”

Simon nodded, ducking his head.

“You should spend more time on it, then.”

“It’s.. but it’s not… useful.”

“Not useful how?” North demanded, trying to keep her voice light. “It makes you happy. So it’s useful.”

“And that makes us happy too,” Markus added. “Seeing you happy.”

“You’re all my favorite,” Simon blurted out, then covered his face.

“Aww, you might be even cuter than Markus was,” North cooed, then laughed and pulled him away from Markus for a better hug.

“I’d believe that!” Markus laughed, wrapping his arms around them both.

“You know you're important to us,” Josh mumbled, hugging them all, looking at the top of Simon’s head.

“I love you too,” Simon whispered fervently.

They cleaned up when they finally pulled apart - Simon managed to do most of it, zipping around muffling his laughter. Then they played hide and seek for a while. The four ended up piled together watching movies for the rest of the day, all snuggled together.


	3. Chapter 3

“Get ready,” Josh murmured, smiling a bit as North opened her eyes. She looked down at her hands.

“This is really cool,” she murmured.

“Isn’t it?” Markus grinned. “So what do you want to do? I know you’ve been thinking of stuff.”

North looked up at him, then the others. “I… I don’t know, I forget.” She looked away.

“Do you want to take a walk?” suggested Josh.

Her eyes darted to him. “Um… okay. Yeah.”

They headed outside, and North kept her arms crossed, looking around as they walked down the street.

“Are you okay?” Markus asked softly.

“I’m fine.”

“You know you can talk to me…”

“I know,” she snapped, and flinched. Behind them, Josh and Simon shared a glance.

They reached a small park with a few trees and a swing set.

“Do you want to swing for a while?” Simon suggested. “That was fun when I was little.”

“…Okay.” She headed to the swings, then paused. “But don’t push me.”

“No problem!” Josh sat on the swing next to her. His legs were longer, but he wasn’t trying nearly as hard, and she was swinging higher before long.

“I didn’t think about… how her past might affect this,” Markus murmured to Simon, watching them. “I should have.”

Simon shook his head. “We’ll just take it slow, give her plenty of space, and let her know we’re here for her.”

Josh got tired of swinging before long, and Simon took his place, trying a little harder. North seemed to be trying to go all the way around the top bar, but couldn’t quite get there. She was determined though, and by the time Markus took the second swing she was making over 180 degree arcs, gripping the chains tightly. At last she slowed, and jumped off when it got low enough, running a few steps and smiling a little.

“I’ve never seen anyone swing that high!” Markus said, grinning when he got off.

“You don’t watch people swing a lot,” she said with a shrug, then drew back a bit, uncertainly.

“He’s right, I used to watch a lot of children swing, and I haven’t seen anyone go that high either,” Simon put in, smiling.

North’s shoulders relaxed a little. She paused, looking up at the three, then slapped Markus with her fingertips before turning and running off. “TAG!”

Her short legs slowed her down a little, but she could still easily outrun Josh and Simon, and managed to outmaneuver Markus until he ambushed her around a tree. She screamed and skidded to a halt, turning and running straight into Simon, who grabbed her shoulders.

“Got you!”

He wasn’t holding her tightly, but she yanked out of his grip immediately, eyes wide, and backed into a picnic table. Simon immediately stepped back, opening his palms to her.

“Sorry,” he said softly. “I wasn’t going to hurt you.”

Her hesitation was brief, but painful for the other three. “I know. I know that.”

“Good. You know you’re important to me, right? I wouldn’t -”

“I know!” she interrupted, and looked away angrily. “Just - sorry. I know. Let’s go back, this is dumb.”

The four walked back quietly. On the steps of the big office building where Jericho’s headquarters now resided, North paused.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s okay,” Markus said instantly. “It’s… strange, being a child suddenly.”

“It wasn’t what I was expecting either,” Simon murmured. “You think differently.”

She nodded. “I’ll… I’ll do better.”

“You’re doing fine,” Markus assured her.

“We don’t have to do anything else,” Josh offered. “Your hardware maintenance isn’t quite done yet, but we could just relax for the rest of the day.”

“We’ve still got the coloring books if you want,” Simon mentioned.

“No.”

“We could read for a while,” Markus suggested. “Or watch TV. Or even just take a nap.”

Her face twitched. “I - I guess reading.”

They headed to the library, and each settled in a chair. North just stared at the pages at first, but gradually got into her book.

When she was back in her WR400 body the next morning, her shoulders sagged and she reached out to the others.

“I’m so sorry, I… I had all kinds of ideas and fun things to do, but when I got there I… it felt like I was completely defenseless.”

“I… understand, but… you know you don’t have to defend yourself against… us, right?” Markus asked.

“Of course I know, but…” She shook her head, leaning into him, clutching at Simon and Josh’s arms. “Didn’t realize I’d be such an idiot about it…”

“You’re not,” Josh assured her. “You managed it.”

“Only because you guys are the best. …Just you left now." She smiled faintly up at him. "Are we gonna be reading all day, or out hiking or something?”

“I don’t know… I’ve honestly never thought about what I might be like as a child,” Josh said, shrugging.


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as the transfer was complete, Josh was pulling off the cable and racing away, his synthetic skin still forming around the port.

“Josh? Hold on, where are you going?” Markus shared a glance with North, and they ran after him. He was a bit clumsy as he ran, but surprisingly fast.

“Hey,” North called as they caught up with him. “What’s up? You’re -”

Josh huffed hard in frustration and picked up a doorstop laying on the floor. He hurled it at them and ducked past them.

“What the hell?” North breathed.

“The one time Simon’s out of town,” Markus muttered as they followed.. “We should’ve waited.”

“Well you’ve got the same basic programming, what do we do?”

“My specialty was elder care, not child care… big difference.”

“Okay, well who else can we ask? Usually if people run from me… I let them.”

“Josh, we’re not going to hurt you,” Markus called. “We want to understand what’s wrong.”

There was a crash from up ahead, and a slammed door.

“…How is every fucking childcare android out of the building today?” North growled, scanning the database. “Is there some kind of baby convention out there?”

“Okay, I’ll see if I can call someone. Just… hold on.”

_Markus: Simon, do you have a minute?_

_Simon: Sure, what’s up? How’s Josh doing?_

_Markus: Well… he ran from us and threw a doorstop._

_Simon: What?_

_Markus: We’re not sure what to do… do you have any ideas?_

_Simon: I know he had a pretty violent deviation, and his students generally didn’t treat him well even before that… not to mention how he’s always internalized things._

_Markus: So he just needs… gentle treatment and time?_

_Simon: Probably… unfortunately, that might take quite a long time. I don’t know, I’ll be home tonight and I’ll see what I can do then. See if you can get him to talk to you about something else, just ease into it. I have to go, I’ll see you later!_

_Markus: Thanks…_

“Any luck?” North asked.

“Try to talk about something else?” Markus shrugged. “He didn’t seem too sure either, without being here.”

North thought for a minute. “Hey Josh,” she called. “You hear about that archaeological site they found up in Saskatchewan? Some super remote trading site?”

A small foot kicked the other side of the wall hard.

“I thought it sounded pretty cool. They don’t know a whole lot about it yet, but it’s from like… a thousand years ago. Sounded right up your alley.”

“Two thousand,” Josh snarled, kicking harder. “You - you don’t know anything, shut up!”

North pulled back, frowning. She glanced over at Markus, whose eyes were unfocused as his LED flashed yellow.

“…Kara says Alice was never like that, Lieutenant Anderson said his son got cranky and needed naps most days, and Rose Chapman said her son needed time to process new things sometimes.”

“Well we can -” North turned and raised her voice a little. “Josh, you can just hang out if you need to, we get it.”

“We’ll be here, though,” Markus assured him.

There was silence, then slowly the door opened. The two smiled.

Josh glared at them darkly. Then he walked out of the room and down the hall. Markus and North followed at a distance. He quickened his step to put a little more distance between them. They ended up outside.

“Sometimes it helps to get some air,” Markus said softly. “Now we can all calm down.”

Josh turned on him. “Don’t say _we_ when you mean ME! And I AM calm, I’m ALWAYS calm, I’m NOT MAD!”

“Okay, okay,” Markus soothed the screaming boy.

“Don’t talk to me that way, I didn’t want you to come in the first place, I didn’t trust you, I didn’t like you!” Josh shouted, and kicked Markus’s shin hard and then turned to storm off.

The three walked through town. Josh paused in front of the university, then ran until he was a few blocks past it. Markus and North followed him all the way to Carl’s house. He paused at the gates and turned to glare at Markus.

“Is your dad home?”

“Ah - no, he should be in New York right now, at the Met.”

Josh snarled silently and strode into the house.

_[Welcome home, Josh. Markus. North.]_

“Mmph.” Leo was lying on the couch eating cold leftover pasta alfredo. “Hey, Dad’s not here.”

“Yeah, we just… came over for a while,” Markus mumbled, eyeing Josh.

“Oh. You need anything? Blue blood? Gonna need the living room, or -” He looked up and scrambled upright. “Shit. Josh?”

The boy had frozen, his eyes wider now.

“He’s in a YK body for today while he gets some hardware maintenance done,” Markus said quietly.

Leo stared at Josh, who stared back at him.

“…Why?”

“We, um… we all did it for a day, it sounded like fun,” North muttered.

“You have fun?” he asked glancing to her. She glared at him. “You having fun so far?” Josh glared harder. “…Yeah, figures. Life sucks. Bet _you_ had fun.” He glanced at his brother.

“I, um… I did,” Markus mumbled.

Leo rolled his eyes and looked down at Josh. “Of course he did. Like I said, life sucks.”

“YOU suck,” the boy snapped.

“Yep,” Leo said affably, putting his book down.

“You’re an idiot!”

“For sure.”

“Josh -”

“SHUT UP!” Josh screeched, whirling on Markus and punching the table next to him.

“It’s fine,” Leo said, looking over the YK700′s head to meet Markus’s eyes. “Let him.”

“Let me… let me what, say things?” Josh growled. “You can’t stop me!”

“Prob’ly not,” Leo agreed.

“You can’t!” Josh’s voice rose in volume and timbre.

“Nope.” Leo shrugged. “Let me have it, kid.”

Josh exploded.

Figuratively.

Leo sat back and listened to this robot boy scream at him for at least half an hour about what a stupid, ugly, useless, mean, terrible loser he was. How he had no friends, how nobody in the world liked him. Markus tried to put a stop to it a couple times, but Leo waved him off. When Josh eventually ran out of steam, Leo finally spoke.

“Yeah, but you missed a few. Junkie, bum, deadbeat, ingrate… Plenty more. Those are the big ones, though. The ones anybody who met me once would bring up. I mean, the shit you said is - fuck, that’s - I mean, you’re not really ten years old, you’re still… you’re still you, I can say… bad… words…?” He glanced worriedly from Josh to Markus and North, all of whom were just staring at him. “Yeah, okay, I’m doing it, get over it. Anyway, everything you said’s true. ‘Cause you’re talking to me. Right?”

Josh was frozen, not breathing.

“Course if you were talking to anybody else in here - or like, sometimes if I think nobody’s home, I talk to myself - Markus and Micah catch me doing that sometimes, fucking androids and your silent feet… anyway, that’d be different.”

Josh had started to shake. Leo stretched and popped his back loudly.

“I mean, let’s be honest, Markus isn’t winning any beauty contests…”

“Actually -”

“Yeah, nobody wants to hear it,” Leo snapped. “He wasn’t talking to anybody designed to look like a million dollars. Like I was saying… sometimes I talk to myself. Even though I know I’m a moron and I say dumb shit. Not just to myself, to everybody else. Even though I mean it about me.”

Josh’s face contorted in confusion, denial, fury…

“No problem though, I get it. Gotta get it out of your system somehow, right?”

Josh continued to stare at him for a long moment. He glanced back at Markus and North, then back at Leo. “I… I’m sorry,” he breathed. “It was all lies, I…”

“No problem, kid.” Leo grinned. “Hey, if I came in and saw my ugly face, I’d throw a fit too.”

By the time Simon got back from his meeting with the Prime Minister of France, the four were curled up in the living room. Leo and Josh were on opposite ends of one couch, and Markus and North were on the couch across from them.

_[Welcome home, Simon]_

"You're back! How'd it go?" Markus asked brightly.

"...Long," Simon sighed. "We definitely made some progress, though. How are things here?"

"Okay," North said.

"Better," Markus added.

"Fucking sucks, right?" Leo grinned at Josh, who nodded solemnly.

"It does. Hi Simon."

"Hi..."


End file.
